DAILY DEVOTIONALS: 6.15.24

 TheTemple’s Silent Construction “And the house, when it was in building, was built of stone made ready before it was brought thither: sothat there was neither hammer nor axe nor any tool of iron heard in the house, while it was in building.” (1Kings 6:7) Here is a remarkable testimony to the engineering and construction skills of the ancients. In order to erect the magnificent temple of Solomon, every portion was so carefully fabricated, far away from the construction site, that the building could be completelyerected in reverent silence. Furthermore, the stones were not small and rough. “They brought great stones, costly stones, and hewed stones, to lay the foundation of the house” (1Kings 5:17). They were quarried from limestone beds beneath the city and had to be fabricated and brought to the temple site all ready to be laid in place. “And Solomon’s builders and Hiram’s builders did hew them, and the stonesquarers” (1Kings 5:18). In both its unique beauty and its silent assemblage, the temple is a striking type of the spiritual temple now being erected by the Holy Spirit. “Now therefore ye are...built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chiefcorner stone; in whom all the building fitly framed together groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord; In whom ye also are builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit” (Ephesians2:19-22). In this spiritual temple, each new believer is a costly stone, carefully cut from the world’s dark quarry, then silently placed in the growing structure by the Holy Spirit on the foundation of Jesus Christ, “to whom coming, as unto a living stone, disallowedindeed of men, but chosen of God, and precious, Ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house” (1Peter 2:4-5). “Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?” (1Corinthians 3:16). HMM ------------------------- WondrousThings “Open thou mine eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of thy law.” (Psalm119:18) Wondrous indeed is the marvelous universe God has created. “Hearken unto this,” we are challenged, “stand still, and consider the wondrous works of God” (Job37:14). And as we “consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which thou hast ordained” (Psalm8:3), we can only “stand still” in awe at God’s infinite power. We are even more amazed as we study the intricate complexity of living creatures—especially human beings. “I will praise thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made: marvellous are thy works” (Psalm139:14). God’s omniscience is more wondrous than even His omnipotence. Then there is His miraculous ordering of history for the accomplishment of His purposes. “We will not hide them from their children, shewing to the generation to come the praises of the LORD, and his strength, and his wonderful works that he hath done” (Psalm78:4). But even greater than the wondrous world He created or His wondrous works in history are the wonders of God’s written Word, for “thou hast magnified thy word above all thy name” (Psalm138:2). Note the testimony of the familiar 19th Psalm: “The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament sheweth his handywork.” But then: “The law of the LORD is perfect, converting the soul” (Psalm19:1, 7). As far as God’s works in history are concerned, God’s Word was completed before history began and will endure after the present world is gone. “For ever, O LORD, thy word is settled in heaven” (Psalm119:89). “Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away” (Matthew24:35). There are “wondrous things” without end in “thy law,” and we will continue discovering them forever. HMM ----------------------- InerrancyAccording to Christ “For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass fromthe law, till all be fulfilled.” (Matthew5:18) Here is the commentary of the Lord Jesus on the doctrine of plenary verbal inspiration. Not only were the words of the Bible divinely inspired, but even the very letters! The “jot” was the smallest letter of the Hebrew alphabet (yod, the tenth letter).The “tittle” was a small, horn-like appendage that transformed one Hebrew letter into another. Thus, a stronger statement of absolute verbal inspiration than this could hardly be imagined. Further, the phrase “in no wise” is actually a double negative in Greek. In New Testament Greek it was used for strong emphasis. According to none other than the Lord Jesus Christ Himself, every word—even every letter—of the “law” must be fulfilled. This certainlyincludes the books of the Pentateuch—including even the often-maligned and distorted opening chapters of Genesis! He applied the same principle to other parts of Scripture as well. “The scripture cannot be broken,” He said (John10:35) in the course of an exposition of Psalm 82:6, based on one single word used in the verse, supporting the vital doctrine of His own deity. It is clear that Christ taught the doctrine of full, verbal inspiration of the Holy Scriptures. It is sad and inexcusable that so many today who call themselves Christians repudiate this vital teaching of the Lord Jesus by rejecting, diluting, or “interpreting” the plain statements of the Word of God. And lest anyone equivocate by suggesting that, since the original writings have all been lost, we no longer can know what the divinely given words may have been, we should remember Christ’s promise: “Heaven and earthshall pass away, but my words shall not pass away” (Matthew24:35). HMM -------------------- TheHeart in Focus - by Greg Laurie � www.harvest.org The human heart is the most deceitful of all things, and desperately wicked. Who really knows how bad it is? �Jeremiah 17:9 https://harvest.org/resources/devotion/the-heart-in-focus/- Listen In our culture, we talk a lot about the heart and doing what the heart wants. But we should not let our hearts tell us what to do, because our hearts can mislead us. Jeremiah 17:9 says, �The human heart is the most deceitful of all things, and desperately wicked. Who really knows how bad it is?� (NLT). And Jesus said, �For from the heart come evil thoughts,murder, adultery, all sexual immorality, theft, lying, and slander� (Matthew 15:19 NLT). Yes, the heart wants what it wants, but a lot of times the heart wants the wrong things. Therefore, we should not focus on our hearts as much as we ought to focus our hearts on God. Jesustells us to use our hearts, as well as our minds and our souls, for the purpose that God created them. In Matthew 22, we find an account of the Pharisees trying to trap Jesus because they had endless debates about which commandments were greater or lesser. Now, Jesus had just dealt with theSadducees, the religious leaders who didn�t believe there was life beyond the grave. The Sadducees approached Jesus with a hypothetical situation. They talked about a woman who was married to a man who died. So, she married his brother, and he died. She married another ofhis brothers, and he died as well. On this went until she had married seven brothers, who all died. Then they asked, �So tell us, whose wife will she be in the resurrection? For all seven were married to her� (Matthew 22:28 NLT). Jesus told them, �Your mistake is that you don�t know the Scriptures, and you don�t know the power of God� (verse 29 NLT). Thus, He put them in their place and answered their question. Next, the Pharisees felt it was their turn, so they went to Jesus with this question: �Teacher, which is the most important commandment in the law of Moses?� (verse 36 NLT). The Pharisees had basically documented 613 commandments in the law and had identified 248 of those commandments as positive and 365 as negative. They knew that no one could keep all the commandments.Therefore, they had identified some commandments as heavy and other commandments as light. But breaking one commandment is enough to keep us out of Heaven. Here�s how Jesus answered the Pharisees: ��You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind.� This is the first and greatest commandment. A second is equallyimportant: �Love your neighbor as yourself.� The entire law and all the demands of the prophets are based on these two commandments� (Matthew 22:37�40 NLT). Jesus was saying, �Instead of worrying about all the commandments and which one is worse than the other, get back to this: love God with all of your being, and everything will be sorted out.� If you love the Lord with all your heart, soul, and mind, then you naturally will want to do what He wants you to do. -------------------- Yes, It�s a Big Deal - by Greg Laurie � www.harvest.org But I have this complaint against you. You don�t love me or each other as you did at first! �Revelation 2:4 https://harvest.org/resources/devotion/yes-its-a-big-deal/- Listen Some Christians are sticklers for correct doctrine, yet many of them are miserable, mean, arrogant, and condemning. Then there are Christians who are very active and busy for God, but theirlove for the Lord seems to be lacking. The love that we have for Christ can be walked away from. Sometimes, we don�t love Him as we once did. We can look back on our lives as Christians and say there was a time in our walk withthe Lord when our love for Him was much stronger. This often happens in marriage. We might see a young couple holding hands, gazing into each other�s eyes, and showing affection, and we assume that they must be newly married. Why? Becausepeople who have been married for a while typically don�t do those things anymore. The same can happen in our faith. The affection is gone. The passion is gone. And the communication has broken down. In effect, the honeymoon is over. This was the situation with the church in Ephesus that Jesus addressed in the Book of Revelation. The Ephesians were active, busy, and engaged as a church, but they were lacking in love. SoJesus said, �I know all the things you do. I have seen your hard work and your patient endurance. . . . But I have this complaint against you. You don�t love me or each other as you did at first!� (Revelation 2:2, 4 NLT). It�s important for us to understand that these were the words of Jesus to a literal church in the ancient city of Ephesus. It�s possible that both the apostle Paul and the apostle John hadpastored it. And when John wrote down the words of Revelation while he was on the island of Patmos, this church was in its second generation. That means by this time, many of these people in the Ephesian church had been raised in a Christian home. They had been born to believing parents and had been taught the Word of God from theiryouth. We also know they were a very active church that served the Lord with great effort. Notice Jesus said, �I have seen your hard work and your patient endurance� (verse 2 NLT). In the originalGreek, the term hard work indicates an effort that produced work even at the cost of pain. These people were hardworking. They were discerning. They were faithful. But they were guilty of a sin the average person could not detect: they had left their first love. These believers in Ephesus were so busy maintaining their separation, they were neglecting their adoration. They were substituting perspiration for inspiration. But was it really that bigof a deal? Yes, it was. Because as you read the words of Jesus to the seven churches in Revelation, you will see things getting progressively worse, culminating in the outright rejection of Christ inthe church of Laodicea, where He is on the outside trying to get in. It�s a big deal to leave your first love because it ultimately can lead to worse things. ---------------------- The Gradual Fall - by Greg Laurie � www.harvest.org Look how far you have fallen! Turn back to me and do the works you did at first. If you don�t repent, I will come and remove your lampstand from its place among the churches. �Revelation 2:5 https://harvest.org/resources/devotion/the-gradual-fall/- Listen Remember when you first came to faith in Jesus Christ? What a joy it was to pray. You never knew that you could talk to God, and you realized that you could call on Him wherever you were,no matter what you were facing. Prayer was a privilege, and you utilized it. Then there was the Bible, the user�s manual of life. You finally had the Book that told you how to live your life, what your priorities ought to be, and how to be a good husband, a good wife,and a good parent. And most importantly, it told you how to get to Heaven. And church? You couldn�t wait to get to church. You would go to a weekend service and a midweek service and listen to Bible teaching on the radio. You read Christian books. You couldn�t getenough in your life. Sharing your faith was easy for you. It was the overflow of your Christ-filled life, and you were always looking for opportunities to talk to someone about Jesus. But things have changed. You still study the Bible, but not as much as you used to. You still pray, but it�s a quick prayer here and there. Sure, you go to church. In fact, you sit in thesame place every week, and no one had better try to take your seat. However, if the preacher goes over his allotted time, you�re not happy. And you sometimes have to leave early to beat the traffic. You share your faith�once in a while. But instead of having a conversation with someone about Christ, you feel that others should simply look at your example as a follower of Jesus. Here�s the question: Have you left your first love? Jesus said to the church of Ephesus, �Look how far you have fallen! Turn back to me and do the works you did at first� (Revelation 2:5 NLT). Does this mean that leaving your first love is falling spiritually? Yes, it does, because it can lead to worse things. A classic example of this is King David. The Bible describes him as �a man after [God�s] own heart (1 Samuel 13:14 NLT) and �the sweet psalmist of Israel� (2 Samuel 23:1 NLT). But he alsowas an adulterer and, in effect, a murderer. David didn�t start that way. When the Bible first introduces us to him, he is a young boy watching his flock of sheep and writing love songs to the Lord. But fast forward a number of years,and David is kicking back at a time when kings would lead their troops into battle. We don�t read of him writing beautiful psalms or singing to the Lord. We don�t see his tender heart. He left his first love, and as a result, his life was a mess. It all fell apart for him. Have you left your first love? It can happen so easily. Get back to your first love for Jesus Christ. Love Him with all your heart, soul, and mind. -------------------------------------- Loveof Every Love the Best �And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness ofGod.� (Ephesians3:19) The love of Jesus has been our theme these last two days, following the insightful hymn �O the Deep, Deep Love of Jesus.� And deep it is, as many Scriptures attest. O the deep, deep love of Jesus, love of every love the best! �Tis an ocean full of blessing, �tis a haven giving rest! O the deep, deep love of Jesus, �tis a heav�n of heav�ns to me; And it lifts me up to glory, for it lifts me up to Thee! The depth of His sacrificial love for us transcends knowledge. His love for us overwhelms any love we have for Him or for one another. His nature of true love drives His love for us, even though we are quite unlovely, for �God is love� (1John 4:8). Our response? �We love him, because he first loved us� (1John 4:19). Romans 8 lists many aspects of the loving work He has done and is still doing for us. We are fully covered by His love. It asks, �Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?� (Romans8:35), followed by a carefully worded list of the things that cannot sever our place in His favor, our secure position in Christ. The section closes with the affirmation �I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, norpowers, nor things present, nor things to come, Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord� (Romans8:38-39). �The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Ghost, be with you all. Amen� (2Corinthians 13:14). JDM ----------------------------- Prove It - by Greg Laurie � www.harvest.org Those who accept my commandments and obey them are the ones who love me. And because they love me, my Father will love them. And I will love them and reveal myself to each of them. �John 14:21 https://harvest.org/resources/devotion/prove-it/- Listen What does it mean to love the Lord with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind? And how can you tell whether someone really loves God? First, if we really love God, we will long for personal communion with Him. When you really love someone, you like to spend time with them. You enjoy their company and their companionship.In the same way, if you really love the Lord, then you�ll want to be in fellowship with Him. Second, a person who loves God will love the things that He loves. And we know what God loves by what He has said in His Word. The psalmist declared, �Oh, how I love your instructions!� (Psalm119:97 NLT). Do you love the Word of God? Third, do you love hanging out with the people of God? God loves the church. Do you love lost people? God does. If you love the Lord, then you will long for fellowship with Him, and you willlove what He loves. The flip side of that is if you love the Lord, then you will hate the things that He hates. That�s because His nature is becoming your nature. Psalm 97:10 says, �You who love the Lord, hateevil! He protects the lives of his godly people and rescues them from the power of the wicked� (NLT). God hates sin, and we should, too. Fourth, if you love God, then you will love other Christians. The apostle John pointed out, �For if we don�t love people we can see, how can we love God, whom we cannot see?� (1 John 4:20NLT). Our love for God isn�t real if we hate other Christians. And 1 John 3:14 says, �If we love our brothers and sisters who are believers, it proves that we have passed from death to life. But a person who has no love is still dead� (NLT). Fifth, if you really love God, then you will long for the return of Jesus Christ. Writing to Timothy, the apostle Paul said, �And now the prize awaits me�the crown of righteousness, whichthe Lord, the righteous Judge, will give me on the day of his return. And the prize is not just for me but for all who eagerly look forward to his appearing� (2 Timothy 4:8 NLT). Do you love His appearing? Are you longing for the return of Jesus? A Christian who loves God will look forward to His return. Sixth, if you love God, then you will keep His commandments. Jesus said, �Those who accept my commandments and obey them are the ones who love me. And because they love me, my Father willlove them. And I will love them and reveal myself to each of them� (John 14:21 NLT). The problem is that our actions don�t match our words. If we love God, then let�s keep His commandments. And if we are not willing to keep His commandments, then let�s stop talking about ourlove for God. The proof is in our actions, in what we do.